The deadline for the UN-backed peace deal in Syria passed this morning with no sign of the fighting in Syria abating. The six-point peace plan was drawn up by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan during a visit to Damascus in March.

The peace plan states that Syrian troops would be withdrawn from the populated areas of Syria on 10 April. The plans also stated that the cessation of all violence should be implemented by 12 April. However despite offering hope that the killings might stop the peace plan always looked doubtful and Assad looks like a man not about to bow to anyone. At the weekend, Assad began making new demands that the opposition lay down their arms, making the deal look increasingly less likely.

Over the weekend -as the deadline loomed – there was a surge in violence which reportedly left hundreds dead. Trouble spread across the border too as those who had escaped the massacre going on in Syria and into camps in Turkey were fire upon leaving two dead and many injured.

In another tragic incident at the weekend, a photographer was shot dead at the Lebanon-Syria border.

More than a year after the uprising began, the violence and human rights abuses continue. The International community has been slow and reluctant to act; this seems to be one war that the rest of the world does not want to get involved in, and a war with no clear end in sight.

As the desperate pleas for help continue – “are we not human?” asked one Syrian during an interview on Five Live Monday night – the Syrian battle for freedom and justice goes on.